The food service industry has long used timer devices in connection with the preparation and service of food products. Timers, for example, are used to measure the preparation time of a food product or to measure the holding time of food product before service. One such timer device is disclosed and described in the commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 7,258,064, the disclosure of which is hereby expressly incorporated by reference.
Each food product has its own unique set of storage, preparation and holding parameters. Timers, such as that disclosed in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 7,258,064 are programmed for a menu of food items. Selection of a particular food item retrieves the desired parameters from an on-board or networked memory. Alternatively, parameters for a food item may be entered manually for each food item. Programming of the timer, i.e., placing the parameter into the memory, may be accomplished by placing the timer in a programming mode and entering programming data via an interface integral with the timer, by coupling a programming device to enter the programming data, by transmitting by wired or wireless interface the programming data from a portable computing device, e.g., a handheld, laptop or similar computer device, information to the timer or by coupling the timer to a network to receive the programming data via the network.
Menu flexibility, such as offering daily specials, necessitates periodic and potentially frequent reprogramming of the timers. As appreciated from the foregoing discussion, programming requires a certain level of skill on the part of the programmer, whether placing the timer in a programming mode and entering data or coupling the timer to a programming device or computing device and then operating a function to affect programming. Networking the timers requires providing the timers with network interfaces, increasing the cost of the device and providing network communications to several dozen timers within the facility.